There’s been a recent shift in the way developers approach games. In the days of the arcades and the early consoles, gaming felt like a war against the developers. They would make games as mind-numbingly, quarter-stealingly difficult as possible, and gamers would do their best to not cry. This was a relatively simple way to make games. Traditionally, developers had just increased the speed or difficulty of a game’s early levels, drastically limiting the actual amount of content that had to be coded. This was fine when it was only 25 cents to play, but with the advent of pricey home consoles, this practice just wouldn’t fly. As a result, developers had to start making more complex, content-rich games. And thus was born the item-find. Continue reading ‘A Kinder, Gentler Approach to Item-Finds’
Author Archive for Broken Luck
Dear Video Game Journalists,
Enough is enough. I need to kindly ask you to stop toying with my heart.
Over the years, we’ve had something of a love-hate relationship. Mainly, you love to lie to me and I hate you for it. You’ve broken my heart so many times and in so many ways, there’s not enough health kits or healing potions to put it back together again. And yet I keep coming back. Why? Because I can’t quit you.
So we’re both clear, I want to explain to you exactly what it is that you’ve done to make me this broken shell of a man. I want you to know just how deep you cut me. Continue reading ‘Open Letter to Video Game Journalists’
Save the Gaming Magazines!
The word on the street is that print media is dying. Supposedly newspapers are collapsing, popular periodicals are reducing content, and the specialty publication market has all but imploded. But if you walk through the magazine section of your local chain supermarket or bookstore everything looks more or less normal. Most of the monthly knitting and fly fishing magazines are gone, but there’s still the same selection of bright pink covers featuring diet tips and sex secrets, lots of car mags, and a carload of oiled up guys promising better abs in just 6 weeks. Look a little closer, though. Go on…we’ll wait. What did you find? That’s right, virtually NO gaming magazines. What’s going on? Continue reading ‘Save the Gaming Magazines!’
Last week on Gamer Culture, we explored the dark and mysterious world of speedrunning and traced its history from the arcade era to modern consoles. Today, we’re going to look at the technical side of speedrunning, with a few tips and, of course, a heavy dose of speedrunning lingo. Think you’re a speed demon? Hit the jump and see just how much you know! Continue reading ‘The Quickest Controller in Town: Part II’
EA and the New Era of DLC
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is shaking things up. Big time. In an interview with BusinessWeek, Riccitiello talked extensively about EA’s abysmal income, their new focus on DLC, free games with for-pay accessories, nontraditional platforms like mobile devices and social media sites, and their war with the used-game market.
The gist is this: Brick-and-mortar gamestores are dying. As a result, they’ve shifted their focus from the sale of new games to the resale of used games. Where EA can sell a game once, GameStop can sell, buy back, and resell a game over and over without kicking any earnings back to the publisher. Understandably, Riccitello believes that EA can’t survive indefinitely in this kind of a market. The solution? Digital distribution. Continue reading ‘EA and the New Era of DLC’
Well, it’s official. The Xbox 1 is about to die. This April 15th (Tax Day for all of us Yankees!), Microsoft will be shutting down the online servers for all Xbox 1 multiplayer games. Halo 2, Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and a host of other servers will be closing. While it’s true that die-hard Xboxers will still be able to play local and single-player games, this shutdown indicates the end of the Xbox 1. After all, most gamers still playing Xbox 1 games have their favorite single-player campaigns down by heart with the only challenge coming from small online community. Given the communities which have formed over yeas of camping and corpse-humping, is Microsoft crossing any boundaries with this announcement? Continue reading ‘Microsoft, Fans, and the Death of Xbox Originals Online Play’
We’re pleased to announce Letsgetacid as the randomly selected winner of our first Frag Swag Giveaway! Letsgetacid will be receiving one free copy of Chime, a non-profit XBLA title developed by Zoë Mode and published by OneBigGame.
We’d like to sincerely thank everyone who participated in the Chime giveaway. We were really impressed by the scope and variety of developers named by our readers. From big hitters like BioWare and Valve to less recognized developers like tri-Ace and Treasure, participants reminded us just how big the industry is and how many people are out there making really fantastic games.
We’re sad that we can only give away one copy of Chime. We would like to remind everyone, however, that it is great puzzler available on Xbox Live Arcade and is well worth the 400 MS Point ($5) price tag. 60% of the proceeds from the sale of Chime will be redistributed by OneBigGame to children’s organizations. We’d like to encourage our readers to check out the demo and, if you like it, pick up a copy. After all, it’s not often we get a chance to do a little good while playing video games. We would like to offer a special thanks to OneBigGame for donating the prize code and wish them good luck in their work as a charitable organization. We’ll be featuring their future releases here on Fragmatica!
Again, our congratulations to Letsgetacid and a big thanks to everyone who participated. We will be doing frequent Frag Swag giveaways here so be sure to check back often!
Speedrunning is the act of completing a video game (either in part or completely) in the quickest possible time. Today, in the first post on our two-part Gamer Culture series, “The Quickest Controller in Town,” we’ll be looking at the history of speedrunning. Check out the low-down on the fastest sport in gaming! Continue reading ‘The Quickest Controller in Town: Part I’
The Joys of the Xbox Live Arcade
Maybe it’s my short attention span, my need for simple, straightforward play, or my extreme frugality, but I love the Xbox Live Arcade. Sadly, in the face of big releases like Halo 3: ODST and Modern Warfare 2, it’s all too easy to forget about the XBLA. After all, Arcade games don’t receive nearly the hype or industry media time that they should. What’s more, Microsoft is notoriously bad about announcing release dates and has a bad of habit of surprising us Wednesday mornings. In honor of the underappreciated XBLA, let’s take a few minutes to consider all the great games that came out in 2009 and what we have to look forward to later in 2010.
Continue reading ‘The Joys of the Xbox Live Arcade’
Today, Joystiq.com hosted a hilarious, if somewhat disconcerting, news clip revealing the threat posed by predators using Xbox Live to communicate with kids. Griffin McElroy over at Joystiq took the time to poke a little fun at this example of truly remarkable journalism, but the Fragmatica staff would like to take a moment to talk about the real consequences of new stories like this.
To view the video, check out the Joystiq post above or check out Kotaku’s excellent post on the subject. Hit the jump for more info.
Continue reading ‘What You Should Know About Xbox Live Privacy’
